Humanizing Rules

CHAPTER 7BEHAVIOURAL DRIVER 2: OTHER PEOPLE

The Shed

If you've ever found yourself in an unfamiliar city needing somewhere to eat, chances are you've looked at a site like Tripadvisor for restaurant reviews. But how much can we rely on what those sites tell us? Less than we might think if the experience of London‐based lifestyle and food writer Oobah Butler is anything to go by. In 2017, Butler was repeatedly given money to write positive reviews on Tripadvisor for restaurants in which he'd never eaten.

Since this was happening frequently, he wondered why. Butler noticed that, for some reason, his reviews, in particular, were a catalyst that could shoot restaurants up the Tripadvisor rankings. So, in a mischievous mood, he conducted an experiment. Butler set out to see if he could get a non‐existent restaurant to the No. 1 ranking on Tripadvisor. Re‐naming his backyard shed in Dulwich as a restaurant called “The Shed”, he created a logo, built a website and listed the restaurant as “by appointment only” so he didn't need to give an address or serve anyone a meal.

Using fake reviews and the pretence of being fully booked for months in advance, The Shed climbed from 18,149 in the Tripadvisor London rankings to number one.¹ While Butler's experimental prank clearly raises some ethical questions, it's also the perfect illustration of the power of the second behavioural driver: other people.

The Wisdom of the Crowd

We turn to Tripadvisor and similar websites for help because we ...